Apparatus, method, and program for setting printing fee

ABSTRACT

An apparatus determines whether an input image is color or monochrome, obtains the color amount in the input image, performs image processing on the input image, prints the processed input image, and sets a fee for printing the input image based on the obtained color amount.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Aspects of the present invention generally relate to an apparatus, amethod, and a program for setting a printing fee according to a color ormonochrome determination result.

2. Description of the Related Art

There is known an automatic color select (ACS) determination processingperformed to determine which of a color image and a monochrome image aninput image is. In the ACS determination processing, which of color andmonochrome each pixel in an input image is has been determined, andwhich of a color image and a monochrome image the input image is hasbeen determined based on the determination result.

In addition to the technology of performing color or monochromedetermination for each pixel to determine which of a color image and amonochrome image an input image is, there is known a technologydiscussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-32668.According to the technology discussed in Japanese Patent ApplicationLaid-Open No. 2012-32668, which of a color block and a monochrome blockeach block in an input image is has been determined, and a printing feeof the input image has been determined based on the amount of colorblocks.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the present invention, an apparatus includes adetermination unit configured to determine, based on a result ofdetermining whether each pixel in an input image is color or monochrome,whether the input image is color or monochrome, a control unitconfigured to obtain, based on a result of determining whether eachblock in the input image is color or monochrome, a color amount of theinput image, an input image processing unit configured to perform imageprocessing on the input image based on a result of determining whetherthe input image is color or monochrome, and to print the input image onwhich the image processing has been performed, and a setting unitconfigured to set a fee for the printing based on the obtained coloramount.

Further features of the present disclosure will become apparent from thefollowing description of exemplary embodiments with reference to theattached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an image forming apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an overall copy job operation of theimage forming apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating fee setting processing in detail.

FIG. 4 illustrates a table indicating a difference between an ACSdetermination result and a set fee.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating final fee determination processingbased on the ACS determination result and the set fee.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Various exemplary embodiments will be described in detail below withreference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an image forming apparatusaccording to the present exemplary embodiment. The image formingapparatus 100 includes an image input unit 101, a control unit 102, animage output unit 103, an input image processing unit 104, an ACS unit105, an output image processing unit 106, and an operation display unit107.

The image input unit 101 includes such a hardware unit as a scanner, andconverts an image on a document into a red, green, and blue (RGB)digital image to capture it. Then, the image input unit 101 inputs thecaptured image to the input image processing unit 104. The image inputunit 101 can also receive a RGB digital image from an external apparatusto input it to the input image processing unit 104.

The control unit 102 includes a central processing unit (CPU), a randomaccess memory (RAM), and a read-only memory (ROM). The CPU executesprogram data included in the ROM while using the RAM as necessary.Processing performed by the control unit 102 will be described inrespective steps of flowcharts.

The image output unit 103 includes such a hardware unit as a printer,and prints an image including a digital signal such as a cyan, magenta,yellow, and black (CMYK) signal on an output medium such as paper.

The input image processing unit 104 performs predetermined imageprocessing, such as shading correction processing or off-registrationcorrection processing, on the RGB digital image input from the imageinput unit 101. Then, the input image processing unit 104 inputs the RGBdigital image having been subjected to the predetermined imageprocessing to the ACS unit 105.

The ACS unit 105 is a hardware unit that performs ACS determinationprocessing on the input RGB digital image. The ACS determinationprocessing is processing for determining which of color and monochrome(black and white) the RGB digital image is. In this specification,“which of color and monochrome something is” means “whether something iscolor or monochrome”.

The ACS determination processing specifically includes the followingthree processes: (1), (2), and (3).

(1) The ACS unit 105 determines which of a color pixel and a monochromepixel each pixel in the input RGB digital image is. This determinationis carried out by a known algorithm. For example, a difference among anR component, a G component, and a B component of the target pixel iscalculated, and the target pixel is determined to be a color pixel if alargest value of the difference is larger than a predetermined thresholdvalue, and the target pixel is determined to be a monochrome pixel ifsmaller.

(2) Then, the ACS unit 105 detects a group of color pixels where apredetermined number or more of color pixels are present in series ineither a main scanning direction or a sub-scanning direction.Alternatively, the ACS unit 105 may detect a group of color pixels wherea predetermined number or more of color pixels in both a main scanningdirection and a sub-scanning direction.

(3) If the number of the detected groups of color pixels in the inputimage are larger than a predetermined number, the input image isdetermined to be a color image, and the image input in the other case isdetermined to be a monochrome image.

The processes of (1), (2), and (3) are performed by pixel units.Desirably, the processes are ended at a stage where the color pixelgroup satisfying the aforementioned condition is detected. Then, theprocessing for each pixel, which takes long, can be ended in the midway,and can proceed to subsequent steps.

The RGB digital image having been subjected to the ACS determinationprocessing is input from the ACS unit 105 to the control unit 102.

The output image processing unit 106 performs color conversionprocessing on the RGB image to obtain a CMYK digital image or a single Kcolor digital image. Then, the output image processing unit 106 performshalftone processing on the obtained CMYK digital image or single K colordigital image.

The operation display unit 107 includes such a hardware unit as a liquidcrystal display (LCD) touch panel, receives an operation input to theimage forming apparatus 100 from a user, and displays a notification toa user from the image forming apparatus 100.

FIG. 2 illustrates an overall flow of processing performed by the imageforming apparatus 100.

First, in step S201, the image input unit 101 inputs the RGB digitalimage to the input image processing unit 104. Then, in step S202, theinput image processing unit 104 performs the aforementionedpredetermined image processing on the input RGB digital image, andinputs the RGB digital image having been subjected to the predeterminedimage processing to the ACS unit 105.

In step S203, the ACS unit 105 performs the aforementioned ACSdetermination processing on the input RGB digital image, and inputs theRGB digital image having been subjected to the ACS determinationprocessing to the control unit 102.

In step S204, the control unit 102 performs fee setting processing basedon the input RGB digital image. This processing will be described belowreferring to FIG. 3.

In step S205, the control unit 102 determines a final fee based on aresult of the ACS determination processing in step S203 and a result offee setting processing in step S204. This processing will be describedbelow referring to FIGS. 4 and 5.

Then, in step S206, the control unit 102 causes the operation displayunit 107 to display the determined final fee as fee information. In thisstep, a step to obtain fee approval from a user via the operationdisplay unit 107 can be included. In other words, if the user presses anOK button after checking the displayed fee, processing in step S207 andafter can be started. If the user presses an NG button, the processingin step S207 and after can be canceled (printing can be cancelled). Itis desirable to display not only the fee information but also athumbnail image of the input image. This step does not always need to becarried out. The control unit 102 can immediately proceed to step S207after step S205 omitting this step.

Then, in step S207, the control unit 102 sets a color conversionparameter for the output image processing unit 106 based on the resultof the ACS determination processing in step S203. Specifically, thecontrol unit 102 sets a color conversion parameter for a monochromeimage if the ACS determination result is the monochrome image, and acolor conversion parameter for a color image if the ACS determinationresult is the color image. The color conversion parameter for themonochrome image is a parameter for converting the RGB digital imageinto a single K color digital image, while the color conversionparameter for the color image is a parameter for converting the RGBdigital image into a CMYK digital image. Particularly, the colorconversion parameter for the color image is desirably a parameter forconverting an RGB value of pixels included in the RGB digital image intoa value of single K color pixel if the values of the R component, the Gcomponent, and the B component of the pixels are close to one another(if each difference therebetween is equal to or less than apredetermined threshold value). If any of the difference therebetween islarger than the predetermined threshold value, the color conversionparameter for the color image is desirably a parameter for convertingthe RGB value of the pixels into a CMYK value (CMYK value where none ofCMY values is 0). The predetermined threshold value is desirablyidentical to that used for the ACS determination.

After the end of the processing, the control unit 102 inputs the RGBdigital image input from the ACS unit 105 to the output image processingunit 106.

Then, the output image processing unit 106 performs color conversionprocessing on the input RGB digital image by using the set colorconversion parameter. Then, the output image processing unit 106performs halftone processing on the CMYK or single K color digital imageobtained by the color conversion processing. Then, in step S208, theoutput image processing unit 106 inputs a halftone processing result tothe image output unit 103.

Finally, in step S209, the image output unit 103 prints the input image(image processing result after image processing such as color conversionprocessing and halftone processing).

FIG. 3 illustrates a detailed processing flow of fee setting processingstep S204 illustrated in FIG. 2.

In step S301 in the fee setting processing step S204, the control unit102 divides the input image into a plurality of blocks. In step S302,the control unit 102 calculates an average value of RGB luminance ineach block. In the description below, the block is assumed to be aregion of 32 pixels×32 pixels. However, the block can be a region ofanother size. In the present exemplary embodiment, a value to becalculated is assumed to be an average value of RGB luminance. However,another value such as a weighted average value can be used.

In step S303, the control unit 102 determines which of a color block anda monochrome block each block is, based on the calculated average value.This determination is carried out by a known algorithm. For example, adifference among an R component, a G component, and a B component of theaverage value of the RGB luminance of a target block is calculated, andthe target block is determined to be a color block if a largest value ofthe difference is larger than a predetermined threshold value, and thetarget block is determined to be a monochrome block if smaller. Thisthreshold value can be identical to that used for ACS determinationprocessing. However, the threshold value used in this step is desirablysmaller than the threshold value used for the ACS determinationprocessing. It is because if 100 pixels in a certain block are colorpixels while 924 pixels are monochrome pixels, most of the pixels aremonochrome pixels, and thus a difference among the R component, the Gcomponent, and the B component of the average value of the block isrelatively small. Even if the difference is small, to determine that thebock is a color block, the threshold value used in this step isdesirably set to a relatively small value.

The determination algorithm is not limited to this algorithm. Forexample, a method of converting the RGB luminance into YUV luminance andcomparing a total of U² and V² with a threshold value can be employed.

Then, in step S304, the control unit 102 counts the number of blocksdetermined to be color blocks, and divides the result by the number ofblocks included in the input image to obtain a percentage of colorblocks in the entire blocks. If the percentage of the color blocks isless than a first threshold value (0.1%), in step S305, the control unit102 sets a printing fee of the image to a monochrome fee (e.g., 10 yen).If the percentage of the color blocks is equal to or more than the firstthreshold value and less than a second threshold value (10%), in stepS306, the control unit 102 sets the printing fee of the image to a fullcolor fee (e.g., 20 yen). If the percentage of the color blocks is equalto or more than 10%, in step S307, the control unit 102 sets theprinting fee of the image to a full area color fee (e.g., 40 yen). Thedescription is based on the examples of threshold values of 0.1% and10%. However, other threshold values can be used provided that thesecond threshold value is larger than the first threshold value.

Thus, concerning fee setting, the control unit 102 further divides,rather than the two-stage division of the monochrome image and the colorimage, the color image into a full color image and a full area imageaccording to the percentage of the color blocks. Then, the control unit102 performs fee setting for each page according to the division, andcauses the operation display unit 107 to display a total amount of eachjob in the fee information display step S206. The operation display unit107 can be caused to display all fees of the respective pages. A step toobtain fee approval from a user can also be included as described above.

A thumbnail image can be formed by collecting average values of theblocks obtained in step S302. The control unit 102 can cause theoperation display unit 107 to display the thumbnail image together withthe fee information during displaying of the fee information.

FIG. 4 illustrates a table indicating a difference between a set fee andan ACS determination result.

Rows in the table represent an ACS determination result, and columns inthe table represent a set fee.

A cell of each combination represents whether both are consistent witheach other. A combination with a circle (∘) indicates a consistentcombination, while a combination with a cross (x) indicates aninconsistent combination. For example, if an ACS determination result iscolor and a set fee is a monochrome fee (*1 illustrated in FIG. 4),although a color image is printed, a set fee is a monochrome fee. If anACS determination result is a monochrome and a set fee is a full colorfee or a full area color fee (*2 illustrated in FIG. 4), although amonochrome image is printed, a set fee is a color fee. In the final feedetermination processing step S205, such a difference is eliminated toachieve consistency.

FIG. 5 illustrates a detailed processing flow of the final feedetermination processing step S205.

In step S501 in the final fee determination processing step S205, thecontrol unit 102 checks which of monochrome and color an ACSdetermination result is. In steps S502 and S503, the control unit 102checks which of a monochrome fee and other color fees a set fee is.

If both are monochrome (YES in step S501 and YES in step S502), and ifboth are not monochrome (NO in step S501 and NO in step S503), both theACS determination result and the set fee are consistent with each other,and thus the set fee is not changed. If the ACS determination result ismonochrome while the set fee is not a monochrome fee (YES in step S501while NO in step S502), in step S504, the control unit 102 changes theset fee from a full color fee or a full area color fee to a monochromefee. It is based on a point of view that if monochrome printing isperformed, a fee should be a monochrome fee.

If the ACS determination result is color while the set fee is amonochrome fee (NO in step S501 while YES in step S503), in step S505,the control unit 102 changes the set fee from a monochrome fee to a fullcolor fee. It is based on a point of view that if color printing isperformed, a fee should be a color fee. Since it can be considered thatthere are not so many color regions in the input image as long as theset fee is a monochrome fee, the set fee is changed not to a full areacolor fee but to a full color fee.

Thus, an appropriate fee can be determined by changing the set feeaccording to the ACS determination result.

It has been described that the block is a region of 32 pixels×32 pixels.However, the block can be a region of another size. For example, theblock can be a square region of 10 pixels×10 pixels, a rectangularregion of 10 pixels×15 pixels, or even a region of another shape such asa circular shape. The blocks do not need to be equal in size. Forexample, a block of 20 pixels×3 pixels can be present while a block of10 pixels×10 pixels is present.

However, if the input image is divided into a plurality of blocks havingsuch different sizes, care must be taken in the processing in step S304.Rather than simply counting the number of color blocks to calculate thepercentage of color blocks in the entire blocks, a percentage of an areaof color blocks in the total area of the input image must be calculatedin view of differences in block sizes.

All the aforementioned descriptions are based on the examples using thepercentage. However, fee setting can be carried out by simply using thenumber of color blocks or the area of the color blocks without using thepercentage. It is assumed that a term “amount” includes both a numberand an area. Thus, a color amount includes both the number of colorblocks and the area of color blocks.

It has been described that the printing is canceled if a user pressesthe NG button. However, the following can be employed. Specifically, ifa user presses the NG button, the control unit 102 causes the operationdisplay unit 107 to display an inquiry to the user as to which part ofthe thumbnail image is subjected to monochrome printing. If the userperforms an operation of selecting a partial region of the thumbnailimage on the operation display unit 107 in response, the control unit102 sets the selected region to a monochrome region. Then, the controlunit 102 transmits the set monochrome region to the output imageprocessing unit 106. Concerning the monochrome region, the output imageprocessing unit 106 converts an RGB value of pixels included in theregion into a value of single k color pixel by using a color conversionparameter for a monochrome image. In step S304, the control unit 102treats the monochrome region as a monochrome block even if color blocksare included in the monochrome region. As a result, the control unit 102sets a fee based on the percentage of color blocks included in regionsother than the monochrome region in the entire blocks. The control unit102 causes the operation display unit 107 to display the set fee again,and receives approval from the user to proceed to step S207 and after.

The two-stage color fee setting, i.e., the full color fee and the fullarea color fee, has been described. However, more stages can beprepared.

The embodiments can be achieved by performing the following processing.That is, software (program) for realizing the functions of theaforementioned exemplary embodiment is supplied to a system or anapparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer, CPU,or microprocessor unit (MPU) of the system or the apparatus reads theprogram to execute it.

In the present exemplary embodiment, the color or monochromedetermination for image processing or printing is carried out by pixelunits, and the color or monochrome determination for fee setting iscarried out by block units. This enables highly precise determinationfor image processing or printing, which are of the most importance, andspeedy determination for fee setting.

If this arrangement is used, as compared with the case where thedetermination for fee setting is carried out in the ACS unit 105, theprocessing of the ACS unit 105 having a heavy processing load tends toend faster, and time from inputting of the image to outputting tends tobe shorter. A reason for the faster end of the processing of the ACSunit 105 realized by using the arrangement is that the ACS unit 105 canend the processing at a stage where a color pixel group satisfying theaforementioned condition is detected. If the determination for feesetting is carried out in the ACS unit 105, the ACS unit 105 mustcontinue the determination until the number of color pixels exceeds thesecond threshold value (e.g., 10%), thus taking time. The presentexemplary embodiment can solve these problems.

Additional embodiments can also be realized by a computer of a system orapparatus that reads out and executes computer executable instructionsrecorded on a storage medium (e.g., computer-readable storage medium) toperform the functions of one or more of the above-describedembodiment(s) of the present invention, and by a method performed by thecomputer of the system or apparatus by, for example, reading out andexecuting the computer executable instructions from the storage mediumto perform the functions of one or more of the above-describedembodiment(s). The computer may comprise one or more of a centralprocessing unit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU), or other circuitry,and may include a network of separate computers or separate computerprocessors. The computer executable instructions may be provided to thecomputer, for example, from a network or the storage medium. The storagemedium may include, for example, one or more of a hard disk, arandom-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a storage ofdistributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as a compact disc(CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD)™), a flashmemory device, a memory card, and the like.

While the present disclosure has been described with reference toexemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodiments arenot seen to be limiting. The scope of the following claims is to beaccorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all suchmodifications and equivalent structures and functions.

This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No.2012-246433, filed Nov. 8, 2012, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: a determination unitconfigured to determine, based on a result of determining whether eachpixel in an input image is color or monochrome, whether the input imageis color or monochrome; a control unit configured to obtain, based on aresult of determining whether each block in the input image is color ormonochrome, a color amount of the input image; an input image processingunit configured to perform image processing on the input image based ona result of determining whether the input image is color or monochrome,and to print the input image on which the image processing has beenperformed; and a setting unit configured to set a fee for the printingbased on the obtained color amount.
 2. The apparatus according to claim1, further comprising a changing unit configured to change, based on theresult of determining whether the input image is color or monochrome,the fee set by the setting unit.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 2,wherein if the determination unit determines that the input image iscolor and the setting unit sets the fee for the printing to a monochromefee, the changing unit changes the set fee from the monochrome fee to acolor fee.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein if thedetermination unit determines that the input image is color and thesetting unit sets the fee for the printing to a monochrome fee, thechanging unit changes the set fee from the monochrome fee to a lowestfee among color fees.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein ifthe determination unit determines that the input image is monochrome andthe setting unit sets the fee for the printing to a color fee, thechanging unit changes the set fee from the color fee to a monochromefee.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the control unitcalculates an average value of blocks in the input image, anddetermines, based on the average value, whether each of the blocks iscolor or monochrome.
 7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein thecontrol unit is further configured to control a display unit to displaya thumbnail image that is formed based on the calculated average valueof the blocks and the fee changed by the changing unit.
 8. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines that theinput image is color at a point in time when a number of color pixelsincluded in the input image exceeds a threshold value, and cancels thedetermination of color or monochrome for remaining pixels included inthe input image.
 9. A method comprising: determining, based on a resultof determining whether each pixel in an input image is color ormonochrome, whether the input image is color or monochrome; obtaining,based on a result of determining whether each block of the input imageis color or monochrome, a color amount of the input image; performingimage processing on the input image based on a result of determiningwhether the input image is color or monochrome, and printing an imageprocessing result; and setting a fee for the printing based on theobtained color amount.
 10. The method according to claim 9, furthercomprising changing the set fee based on the result of determiningwhether the input image is color or monochrome.
 11. The method accordingto claim 10, further comprising changing, if the input image isdetermined to be color and the fee for the printing is set to amonochrome fee, the set fee from the monochrome fee to a color fee. 12.The method according to claim 10, further comprising changing, if theinput image is determined to be color and the fee for the printing isset to a monochrome fee, the set fee from the monochrome fee to a lowestfee among color fees.
 13. The method according to claim 10, furthercomprising changing, if the input image is determined to be monochromeand the fee for the printing is set to a color fee, the set fee from thecolor fee to a monochrome fee.
 14. The method according to claim 10,further comprising calculating an average value of blocks in the inputimage, and determining, based on the average value, whether each of theblocks is color or monochrome.
 15. The apparatus according to claim 14,further comprising displaying a thumbnail image that is formed based onthe calculated average value of the blocks and the changed fee.
 16. Themethod according to claim 9, further comprising: determining that theinput image is color at a point in time when a number of color pixelsincluded in the input image exceeds a threshold value; and canceling thedetermination of color or monochrome for remaining pixels included inthe input image.
 17. An apparatus comprising: a determination unitconfigured to determine, based on a result of determining whether eachpixel in an input image is color or monochrome, whether the input imageis color or monochrome; a control unit configured to obtain, based on aresult of determining whether each block in the input image is color ormonochrome, a color amount of the input image; an input image processingunit configured to perform image processing on the input image based ona result of determining whether the input image is color or monochrome,and to print an input image on which the image processing has beenperformed; and a determination unit configured to determine a fee forthe printing based on the obtained color amount and the result ofdetermining whether the input image is color or monochrome.
 18. Anapparatus comprising: a determination unit configured to determine,based on continuity of color pixels in an input image, whether the inputimage is color or monochrome; a control unit configured to obtain acolor amount of the input image; a printing unit configured to performcolor printing for the input image if the input image is determined tobe color, and monochrome printing for the input image if the input imageis determined to be monochrome; and a setting unit configured to set,based on the obtained color amount, a division candidate among three ormore division candidates as a division for the printing.
 19. Theapparatus according to claim 18, wherein the division is a fee division.20. The apparatus according to claim 18, further comprising a changingunit configured to change, if the determination unit determines that theinput image is color and the setting unit sets a monochrome printingfee, the monochrome printing fee to a lowest fee among color printingfees.